1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a device and method of manufacture relating to a portable stove made from an ammunition box, and more specifically, but not by way of limitation, to an ammunition box stove and a method for converting an ammunition box into a portable stove.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Small portable or camping stoves have been used extensively for providing heat for living areas as well as for cooking. These stoves are often used during camping, hunting, or other outdoor activity. The known stoves are typically made from specially designed sheet metal sections that are used to form the body of the stove. This typically results in bulky structures with a single intended use. The specialized manufacture translates into high cost to the consumer and an inefficient use of available materials, since specialized designs require the use of raw stock materials instead of taking advantage of pre-existing components.
Known portable stoves include devices taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,140 to Robinson, which teaches a collapsible portable stove. The Robinson device is made from sections of sheetmetal or the like which have been configured for the assembly of the Robinson device.
Another portable stove is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,122 to Rock, which teaches a device for burning alcohol based fuels. The stove is specially designed for the purpose of burning alcohol, and thus is made from specialized parts and is best suited for burning a particular kind of fuel.
Still other portable stoves and cooking devices are taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,261,386 to Burkhart, 5,143,046 to Koziol, 5,024,208 to Hottenroth et al., and Des. 254,165 to Woodward. These devices suffer form the limitations that they all require the extensive use of customized components and offer important advantages while burning specific kinds of fuels. Thus the devices in the known prior art are particularly well suited for specific fuels, and thus there remains a need for a portable stove that offers a high degree of versatility in that it can be easily modified to burn a variety of fuels, whether they solid fuels such as wood or charcoal, or gas or other fluidized fuels.
Thus there remains a need for a versatile, compact, inexpensive stove that can be easily modified and which serves for camping and other outdoor sports.
Importantly, there remains a need for a compact stove that takes advantage of existing devices to convert these devices into a stove.
There remains a need for a simple stove that offers economies in manufacture and that produces high temperature heat with a variety of fuels.
There remains a need for a portable system that takes advantage of materials that have been considered waste materials, to produce a compact, highly efficient stove that can burn a variety of fuels.